


how can i ignore the boy next door

by lady_ragnell



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:46:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2798426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_ragnell/pseuds/lady_ragnell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Greer and her friends aren't doing very well putting up Christmas lights on their own, but at least it gives Greer an excuse to talk to Neighbor Boy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	how can i ignore the boy next door

**Author's Note:**

  * For [leobrat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/leobrat/gifts).



> **leobrat** , I hope this little bit of Christmas fluff has made your Yuletide bright!
> 
> The title is from "Boy Next Door," from the movie _Meet Me In St. Louis_.

Greer is going to die of electric shock, and it's going to be Mary's fault. She knows this with the kind of fatalistic certainty that comes of having known Mary since they were children, and also because she is wrapped in about fourteen strings of Christmas lights and Mary seems to think it's wise to _plug them in_.

“I am going to die of electric shock,” she says from inside her twinkly wrappings, “and it is all going to be your fault. Why couldn't Bash help us with this, again? That's what men are for, right?”

Kenna, who is being very unhelpful standing there laughing and taking pictures on her phone, clucks at her. “We are being strong women who can decorate their own house for Christmas. Right, Mary?”

“I think we should put the colored ones around the door,” Mary says thoughtfully, in some kind of Christmas-related trance.

“Bash will be very proud of us for being independent women who can hang our own Christmas lights, but I think he would also like it if we didn't set our home on fire,” Greer says loudly. “He likes our home. Mary's bedroom is in it.”

Lola, who is wearing more tinsel than she's thus far managed to hang, sighs at all of them. “It's cold out here, everyone, are we at least going to try to hang the lights up? Without turning them on first, I know it will take much longer if we hang them wrong and have to fix it, but I'd rather poor Greer not be electrocuted.”

“ _Thank_ you.” Greer manages to unwind a knot in the Christmas lights. “Do attics just do this to strings of things? Are there gremlins? This is ridiculous.”

Mary finally snaps out of whatever she was doing looking so thoughtful and appears to realize that they're standing in the middle of at least six boxes of outdoor holiday decorations with snow threatening to start falling within the next few hours, and then she does what she does best, which is to take charge. “Bash said he would be by at eight, and it will be well past dark by then, so we have to get as much done as we can.”

Greer tries to keep her opinion to herself, but she doesn't have to when Kenna says “Oh, well, if _Bash_ is coming by” on behalf of them all.

“I do want our house to look perfect, the first year we're doing Christmas on our own,” says Greer, because Mary looks annoyed and there's a very thin line between annoyed and actually angry, with Mary. “I'm just not quite sure why the only person with any experience at this can't be the one to help us, even if he doesn't live with us.”

Mary looks around at them all, the same look that's managed to get them all into all sorts of trouble over the years. “I don't want to rely on Bash to do things for me just because he's handy. We can decorate, and in the end this isn't his home, it's _mine_ , and I don't want to feel as though I'm relying on him for things I should be doing myself.”

Greer really can't argue with that, nor does she want to, and Kenna and Lola seem willing to hold their peace as well, so they all continue untangling things while Mary fusses around with what's already untangled, wrapping the lights and anchoring them in place string by string.

As she unwinds the lights, Greer leaves them flat on the ground and works her way down the front path slowly, turning about as she goes since she has become one with the tangle and may in fact have to become part of their Christmas decorations in the end. She may have to discuss getting some wings with Mary, then she can at least be thematic.

Up at the house, which is now about three strings of lights away, Mary and Kenna are having a heated argument on the subject of where exactly the colored lights should go and if the bright blue ones are tacky and Lola is staying emphatically out of it by untangling still more tinsel, which they aren't even going to use outside if Greer is any judge. Greer decides Lola has the right idea and continues putting space between herself and them. The road is quiet, this time of day, she could string her lights across the road if she wanted to, that might be enough distance. She _won't_ , everyone would yell at her, but she _could_.

Greer isn't looking where she's going, which really isn't a problem until she spins around to let out another tangle and promptly trips over the little fence that sets off the edge of their yard, which is at exactly the right height that she nearly topples over it, only to be caught.

For a second, she thinks it's Bash. He could be early, he's chivalrous like that, he'd probably be the least bad option because he wouldn't even laugh at her, just kind of smile that Bash little smile, set her on her feet, and wander off to help Mary with the lights.

Instead, she looks up into the eyes and the highly entertained smirk of Neighbor Boy.

Neighbor Boy isn't actually their neighbor—he lives two or three houses down, in an apartment over someone's garage, and he tends to wander around the neighborhood looking a bit scruffy and devastatingly handsome. Not that Greer watches him or anything. Much. “Thanks,” she says when he doesn't seem inclined to say anything. It has become suspiciously quiet up by the house.

“You okay?” he asks. “You seem to have been viciously attacked by some holiday decorations.”

“That is exactly what happened. You're still holding me.”

That makes Neighbor Boy blink and unhand her, and she isn't sure whether to be relieved or disappointed about that. Probably relieved is better, if only because the other three are still up by the house watching and no doubt ready to comment at the slightest excuse. “Just making sure you had your feet under you.” He looks at the strings of Christmas lights still in her hands and wrapped around most of her torso. “Trying to decorate?”

“Yes.” Greer attempts to brush imaginary snow off her coat, but it mostly doesn't work with her coat covered in Christmas lights. It at least gives her something to do while Neighbor Boy keeps watching her. “Trying to untangle the Christmas lights from four different yard sales.”

“Sounds like quite the afternoon's entertainment.” He looks at Greer and her strings of lights that still might as well be a mummy costume, and then up at the other three, standing in silence by the door like a trio of very entertained and delighted statues when Greer looks at them. It is possible Greer shouldn't have made Neighbor Boy Watching a game in the house. Or ever pointed him out the first time she saw him a few days after they moved in. Or, in fact, told them that this seems like a nice neighborhood. “Do you want some help?” he asks, and it's loud enough to carry to everyone, even if it's directed at Greer.

Greer sighs, because of course she'd love the help, but Mary wants them to be independent, so they'll be independent. “Thank you very much, but we should actually—”

“Accept your very kind offer!” says Mary brightly, her smile so bright it's painful to look at, because Mary is a deeply dangerous human being. “Hello, I'm Mary, and that's Greer, and here are Kenna and Lola, and we'd love your help with these Christmas lights. Wouldn't we, Greer?”

Greer is not sure if she'd rather strangle Mary for not accepting help before or kiss her for accepting it now. “Sure, of course, help is great,” she says, only a little bit bitterly. “We've been at this for most of an hour and the lights are not getting noticeably less tangled.”

“Well then.” He actually rolls up his sleeves, even though it's well below freezing and he's wearing gloves so the rolling does absolutely nothing. “It's lucky I'm an expert at Christmas lights, isn't it? My name is Leith, by the way.”

Two hours later, when Bash shows up, their house is twinkling serenely away and Lola is quietly fretting about their electric bill while everyone else puts together dinner. “I'm fairly sure you said that you four could do it alone,” he tells Mary once he's kissed her hello. “And yet there's an interloper in your kitchen.”

“He rescued Greer and he makes the best muffins in the world, we're replacing you,” says Mary, putting her arm through his and quitting the kitchen, much to everyone else's relief. Mary is good at almost everything, but cooking is not one of her primary skillsets. “Let me tell you all about it.”

“Please don't,” says Greer, probably too loud.

Leith, in the middle of something delicious-smelling that he promises will eventually be pasta sauce, laughs and looks over at her. “I don't know, I think I'd like to hear her version, it sounds educational.”

Kenna, when Greer glances at her, is making encouraging shooing motions between them, like she can make Greer better at flirting through the sheer power of her mind. “Maybe,” she says with her most valiant effort, “but I'm sure we have much better things to discuss.”

“ _You_ could always tell me why you let me help when apparently it was a matter of pride that no one should.”

There are any number of true answers to that, from her fear of someone getting electrocuted, probably her, to all of her friends collectively seizing the chance to set up Greer with the near-mythical Neighbor Boy. Mary is saying something low-voiced to Bash that probably emphasizes the latter without mentioning the former at all, Kenna and Lola aren't even pretending not to eavesdrop, and Greer thinks for a moment before she settles on saying “Well, you offered at an opportune moment, and you rescued me, I figured we could break the rules for that.” Especially since it was a stupid rule in the first place.

Leith grins at her, a beam that makes both her heart and her knees melt a little. “I can work with that.”


End file.
